Sunday, February 19, 2012

After I resigned from my previous job on Jan 27th, I did not take any break. I joined the new company on Jan 30th and was excited as this was the first time I changed company. Its been three weeks as of today and I thought that it would be a good blog post.

Strange Day 1:
I got a laptop and there was a welcome email sent to the entire company. I received few skype contact requests and I immediately accepted :) For the next six hours, there was zero disturbance. No one gave me any tasks, no emails, no phone calls, no meetings, nothing. I was chatting with my friends in my previous company. There was popcorn, biscuits, juice and chocolates to give me company. Finally, my manager asked me if I can start training from the next day.

I was happy that I would get a chance to learn about their product. But I was supposed to conduct trainings and not attend :) I sent an email with the topics and the meetings were scheduled.

Testing Classes:
I started taking classes for the QA team. It was a different experience as testers from US joined through a conference call. There were testers attending the session from the same room and at the same time, multiple testers calling in. I had to take extra care of the pace of the session, voice clarity and the examples used in the session. Luckily, the sessions are going well. I don't use presentation slides. I use a lot of maps and practical testing sessions to highlight the point.

Testing Competition:
After two weeks of training, I conducted a testing contest for the testers. Close to thirty testers participated and presented their reports using Rapid Reporter. Yes, Rapid Reporter :) It was good to see different and new test ideas from different teams. Prizes were distributed to the winners.

Arranging sessions by testing experts:
We were so lucky to have a webinar with James Bach and Michael Bolton last friday. An inspiring session and the best part was the interactive audience. Those who never asked any question were curious and asked few questions. Everyone liked it and we will continue to ask many other testing experts to conduct webinars or testing sessions with the testers. I am so lucky to be in touch with many great testers :)

Creating Mindmaps:
When I highlighted the benefits of mindmaps, I was encouraged to create maps based on the product. Different testers liked the concept of mindmaps for different reasons - tracking results, understanding product better, training purpose, taking notes :) When I was asked to write user stories, I started with a map first.

Session using HTSM model
We had one session where we discussed the HTSM model. Now, we will analyze the requirement document using the HTSM model and come back with a list of questions. Hope the session will be benefit everyone - the testers as well the managers.

Designing tests for interviews
I started designing tests for the interviews. This was a good learning experience. You need to design tests based on different experience levels. Also, you need to be careful on what you expect from these tests. You need to try them on yourself, other testers and then improve them based on the feedback.

Taking interviews
I also took an interview - my first formal interview :) Though I can't reveal much details, it was again a good experience. Meeting someone from the other school of testing proved to be an interesting interview experience.

Ordered books:
I ordered books authored by James Bach, Jerry Weinberg and Dr. Cem Kaner. The management approved the order and paid the full amount. As soon as the books came, curious testers jumped on it. :) Hope to have some good discussions from the book readings.

Three important goals:
The fourth day at the new job, director calls me for a meeting and highlights the three challenges the company is facing. So, I have got three important goals to work on. I have set two months time as a deadline to achieve some measurable results. I submitted my first report at the end of first week. He sent it to the appropriate team and forwarded the report to the entire company. I liked the appreciation :)

Exploratory testing sessions:
There are testing sessions dedicated to exploratory testing sessions. There are a list of special missions to concentrate on every session. The energy and the atmosphere is amazing. Though the debrief isn't the ideal but its a good start. I hope to blog more on the learning from these sessions. And yes, it was here where Rapid Reporter was introduced. To my surprise, everyone accepted the tool immediately and now everyone uses the tool!

On a personal note, I continue to play table tennis. And I have started doing something which I have not done for the past 26 years. I have participated in a gym contest and today is the fifth consecutive day where I have exercised in a gym :) It feels very good.